


Never Getting Out

by DaronwyK



Series: What if... HP Drabbles & Short Stories [5]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Haunted Houses, Other, Psychological Horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-18
Updated: 2018-04-18
Packaged: 2019-04-24 10:34:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14353695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaronwyK/pseuds/DaronwyK
Summary: Bellatrix Lestrange exacts revenge from beyond the grave.





	Never Getting Out

**Author's Note:**

> One-Shot written for a Halloween Comp.

o.o.O.o.o

It had been nearly a week since Hermione had moved into her new home, which an anonymous source had bequeathed to her not long after the war. Although a team of Curse-Breakers had cleared the property, and all the paperwork had been above board, she was nervous about moving in. But regardless of her misgivings, the reality was that Hermione simply had nowhere else to go, and she secretly hated being dependant on the goodwill of Harry or the Weasleys. She needed to find a place of her own  — she just hadn't expected it to be a bloody old castle.

‘Norman Keep, actually,’ she corrected herself. It was the middle of the night, and she just couldn’t seem to get comfortable enough to fall asleep. Hermione knew she was being ridiculous, there was nothing wrong with the place. Determine not to fall prey to her overactive imagination, she shut her eyes and tried to drift off.

Footsteps started echoing off the stone in the hallway and she bolted upright in bed, her heart hammering in her chest. Her wards should have kept even a hoard of Dark Lords out. Who the hell was in her home?! She reached the door and flung it open, her wand ready to curse the person in the hallway, but there was no one there. The long dark passage lay empty and silent.

“ _Homenium Revelio!”_ The spell fizzled out, revealing no hidden presence in the hallway. Hermione swallowed, her mouth suddenly very dry. Moving through down the corridor carefully, she crept forward on silent feet. A simple non-verbal lumos cast light over the space. Reaching the end of the hall, she knew that sleep would remain elusive until she checked the wards. The stones were cold on her feet, and the oppressive silence wrapped around her, something ominous about it.

The eerie sound of a piano playing echoed through the empty halls and rooms, drawing Hermione further from the safety of her bed. The melody was unfamiliar, but set her teeth on edge. The minor chords of the song made the shadows seem to grow thicker, like liquid pools of darkness. Her heart beat fast inside her chest, like a bird trying to escape a cage.

“Who’s there? This isn’t funny!” Hermione’s voice echoed back to her, repeating over and over, mocking her as she searched. “STOP IT!” she screamed at the darkness, running now.

She reached the front door of the Keep but it wouldn’t open. Tears ran down her face, while she wrenched at the door desperately trying to escape the house. Spell after spell failed to unlock the heavy wooden barrier. Hermione spun around and pressed her back to the door, drawing in deep ragged breaths. The sound echoed in the darkness around her. ‘Think Hermione…think…there’s another way out, down the back staircase.’ She gripped her wand and bolted for it. Once she was outside she could disapparate and she’d be away from whatever this was.

Hermione hurried down the spiral staircase, and was about halfway down when something hit her in the middle of her back and she was tumbling down the stone steps. Hands flew out as she fought to stop her fall, but she careened down the rest of the flight, coming to rest at the base of the stairs. The damp smell of earth surrounded her down here, heavy on the back of her tongue. She tried to move, to feel for her wand, but pain soon defeated her attempts. The laughter that surrounded her broken body in the darkness, was one that she’d know anywhere. Her blood turned to ice in her veins. Bellatrix.

The evil witch’s voice came from the deepest shadows. “Welcome home mudblood…you’re never getting out of this place alive.”

Hermione closed her eyes, praying for the morning to come and save her. But it never did.


End file.
